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Imagine your school child walking home from school - in the dark, along a notoriously dangerous, unlit road. An eleven year old school boy was left behind in Simonstown when the Golden Arrow bus driver refused to let him board with his two siblings. He could not find his card. His home is in Khayelitsha – 35 kilometres away
The bus driver’s response is hard to understand. What adult would leave a school child stranded? Especially strange, since he clearly was one of three children as his two siblings boarded the bus, and clearly very far away from home. The driver has now been suspended, it is assumed - pending disciplinary action and the bus company has announced a review of all processes to be followed related to lost scholar tickets.
Apart from the trauma caused to the child, the incident raises a range of additional questions.
There is a Constitutional duty on the State to provide all children – not just citizens, but all children, with a basic education. (Section 29(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 109 of 1996).
https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/constitution-republic-south-africa-04-feb-1997
It would be fair to assume that in order to fulfill that obligation, the State would ensure that there are sufficient schools for the children to attend – a good deal closer than 35 kilometres away.
- If the State has failed to meet its duty to build sufficient schools in the scholar’s residential area, then surely the scholars should be transported at the department’s expense? Scholars travelling above 5 kilometres to school do receive scholar transport – if there is no public transport available. Scholar transport is, however, not without its problems, as there have been a number of fatal accidents involving scholars.
- Far more important that the form of transport, there are quality of life implications, which will inevitably prejudice the quality of the schooling. The travelling time to school means that the children need to leave home earlier in the morning to reach school on time, and will be home much later than other children – leaving a shorter time for homework, and quite probably children too exhausted to concentrate on homework.
So, why are 3 children from Khayelitsha travelling by public transport to a school in Simonstown?
In this case, it is the parents, who have chosen the school in Simonstown in order to remove their children from the dangers of their residential area, and to obtain a quality education. Another failure of the State – be it national or provincial – to provide a quality education for all children, irrespective of where they live.
The increase in private sector educational options is testament to the opinion of parents able to afford the private school fees that their children will receive a better quality education than in a public school.
The aspirations of these parents are not unreasonable - given that Statistics South Africa confirms the value of education to the future expectations of employment and career.
An additional factor In this case is the level of crime and violence, which the parents were trying to avoid, which is another failure of the State - to provide a safe environment conducive to learning for the children.
When discussing “service delivery”, water, electricity, or housing come to mind, but this incident exposes the consequences of the State’s failure to adequately provide one of the most fundamental of children’s Constitutional rights – a basic education. Whether there is public transport available or scholar transport is provided - both are problematic. It is also arguable whether a full quality basic education is possible within an environment of crime and violence.
These young children – born into the post-1994 Constitutional era represent the national future – a quality basic education is the foundation, upon which they will individually develop, and the means of national redress for past generations of socio-economic exclusion.
